Mine
by NewMusic098
Summary: Aveleria is the newest recruit of the 13th division and was sent to the Human World with Rukia to train. As she was heading home one night, she spots a blue-haired person jumping off the rooftops. And wasn't just any person, it was an Arrancar! She immediately fell for him, but will he fall for her too? Or is she just territory? Grimmjow x OC Rated M: language, lemon and violence.
1. The New Recruit

_**A Bleach Fan Fiction**_

_Written by NewMusic098_

**Mine**

**Chapter 1:**

**The New Recruit**

* * *

**Soul Society; 13****th**** Court Guard Squad Division**

Rukia Kuchiki was walking down the hall, her fellow members greeting her with simple 'good mornings' and her returning the favor. The black-haired petite strode to the left of the hallway and was greeted by a large red door. Opening it with utmost care, she walked forward and bowed.

"Kuchiki Rukia, reporting in. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Captain." She said to the man sitting in the middle of rather large room. The man had long, white hair flowing down and was wearing a white _haori_ over the usual black uniform of Soul Reaper, signifying him as a Captain.

"It's alright, Rukia." Jushiro Ukitake, Captain of the 13th Court Guard Squad of Soul Society said. He raised a hand at Rukia, and she lifted her head from the bow and sat down in front of him instead. Dwindling her feet behind her, she cautiously waited for her Captain to speak. For a while, it seemed like he was in deep thought, then when he opened his eyes, he was looking serious.

"Rukia…" he stated, causing the woman to go stiff. "You, among other people, know the Human World the most and how it works, yes?" He asked the girl knowing the answer. He knew that Rukia was experienced in exploring the Human World because of her adventures with Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends. He saw her nod from her spot, causing a smile to break on his lips.

'_Good.'_ He thought. It seemed that whatever he was planning, he was glad that Rukia was the one he could trust. He knew that she was a very capable Soul Reaper, and it would be foolish not to put his trust in her. After all, he had known her for a long time and if there was any reason to doubt, it wouldn't be now.

"U-uh, sir..?" He heard Rukia ask, breaking him from his train of thought. He shook his head lightly and looked at her in question. "Why did you ask me that question earlier, Captain?"

"Oh, that." He muttered. He put a hand behind his neck and looked around suspiciously as if finalizing that the place was clear of any suspicion. He then looked at Rukia and grinned. This made the raven-haired girl a bit uneasy and gotten a bit freaked out by her Captain.

"Rukia," he said again. "Can I ask you a favor?" He asked with begging eyes. Eyes that he knew Rukia could never resist.

"O-of course, my Captain!" Rukia said, placing a fist above her chest. "Whatever it is you ask of me, I will do it most haste." She bowed again, only to be helped up by her Captain. He was grinning at her and she couldn't tell why.

"Well, you see…"

* * *

**Karakura Town; 8:30 a.m.**

The school bells were ringing, and a certain orange-haired boy was going to be late. He was running as fast as his legs could carry him in this early morning, and he just had to hurry.

'_Damn body! Why couldn't you wake up earlier, huh?'_ he yelled at himself, causing his speed to rise dramatically. He was so focused on running and running that he didn't notice that he was already inside the school and was on his way to class. He stopped only when he had hit someone.

"Oh, Ichigo." Sado, the maroon-haired giant said. "Good morning. Late again, I see?" Ichigo laughed it off while he waved his hand at him, getting the big lug to smile.

"My damn body was so heavy earlier." Ichigo whined. "I would've gotten here in time if it weren't for this crappy excuse for a stupid mother-"

"Kurosaki-kun, good morning!" came a feminine, childish voice. Ichigo stopped mid-cursing and turned to see his orange-haired best friend, Orihime Inoue.

"Inoue, good morning." He said with a grin. Orihime gave him a nod and went over to one of their classmates and childhood friends, Tatsuki. Sighing, Ichigo leaned back on his chair and looked at the roof. It was like any normal day now, after their fierce battle with the Arrancar and Aizen. But there was something off about today. It wasn't that there was something weird going on, but he was definitely sensing some sort of change. He had to be careful about the things he feels, or he might get paranoid.

Deciding that it was a silly and pathetic topic to dwell upon, he banged the side of his head on the table, dropping like a brick to sleep. It was around the same time that all the students stood up from their seats to meet their teacher. The orange-haired man didn't really care much for normal school crap. All he needed was some sleep, and the classroom was the best place to do that.

As usual, the teacher started homeroom and then the lessons. Inoue was writing some of the lectures that were being written down on the blackboard. Sado or Chad was seemingly looking bored, and he didn't look interested in the subject. Some of the students were just listening and doing nothing. Honestly, the only one sleeping was Ichigo, and no one seemed to care as they were used to it.

The class preceded normally, the teacher occasionally calling for students to solve a given problem or to read a paragraph on a textbook. Any form of noise by the class didn't budge Ichigo. He was sleeping like a log. And all this time, his body was as stiff as a brick. When the bell rang, signaling the teacher that it was lunch time, he sighed and closed a textbook that he was currently holding.

"All right, class." He started. "Go now and take a break." The students stood up and gave a light bow to the teacher before he exited himself. They followed soon after, leaving behind Inoue and Chad to deal with the task of waking the sleeping Ichigo.

"Kurosaki-kun," Inoue whined, shaking him by the shoulder a little. "Wake up, Kurosaki-kun~!" She started to shake him with a little more force, but he didn't even stir. With a pout, she turned to Chad, who was staring outside the window for some reason, and sighed.

"Sado-kun," she said. "Kurosaki-kun isn't waking up. What should we do?" Chad lifted his head a bit, then looked at Inoue and closed his eyes.

"Maybe it's best we leave him be." He said in his usual voice. "We don't really have to wake him up, you know?"

"But Sado-kun," Inoue argued. "He's gonna miss his lunch! He should have his lunch or he wouldn't have any energy when he wakes up!"

Suddenly, a gust of wind ripped through the open window, blowing through Inoue's long orange hair. Along with it, was a familiar spiritual pressure, one that the small group recognized and was very happy to feel again. Shocked, the two looked to where the source was, and their eyes widened in both surprise and happiness.

* * *

"Don't bother with that idiot, Inoue." A familiar female voice said. "He's a pathetic fool, anyways." Standing at the window sill, was Rukia Kuchiki, wearing the Kurakara High School's uniform. She had her arms crossing her small chest as she stood proudly on the window.

"Kuchiki-san!" Inoue exclaimed. "Why are you here so soon?" She was about to walk to her when Rukia jumped down and walked to Ichigo. With a solid slam to the head, the desk he was sleeping on broke, resulting in him crashing down and waking up.

With a startled gasp, Ichigo quickly rose from his place. He was now on the floor, the chair he was sitting on behind him. He blinked a few times to confirm himself that he was still at school. He then scanned the ground he was kneeling on. The broken bits of the desk he was sleeping on earlier were lying there. And before he could even react, he was kicked in the stomach and was sent flying to the other side of the room. His head collided with the door and he slid down to the ground. Rubbing his stomach with one hand and his head with the other, he gave a murderous look at blank range.

"Who the hell-!" he was about to yell at the perpetrator for disturbing his sleep, but he was shocked when he saw the petite raven-haired woman smirking at him.

"R-Rukia?" he asked in disbelief. "Is that you? I thought you went back to the Spirit World!" He quickly rose from the ground and walked to the girl with a gruff scowl on his face. "And what's with the kicking, anyway? You could've just woken me up, you know?" His eye gave off an irritated twitch when he heard Rukia chuckle.

"Now where's the fun in that, Ichigo?" she asked. Ichigo rolled his eyes at her and looked away angrily. But before he could do anything else, Rukia jumped, shocking him and forcing him to look. She pulled out something from her pocket and smirked. It was a Soul Badge she held in her hand. She threw it right in front of Ichigo's face, and before he could react, her foot pushed the Badge and released his Soul from his body.

With his original body now lying on the ground, his Soul Reaper form slid backwards. Already angered, Ichigo growled and glared at Rukia.

"What the hell are you doing, Rukia?!" he yelled. Rukia ignored him for a moment while she picked up his body and sat him with Inoue and Chad before she looked at him seriously.

"You're going to help me." was all Rukia said, and it confused the substitute Soul Reaper to no end. What is he going to help her with? Was it something really important? Or was it something trivial? He wanted to find out, and so he asked.

"What the hell are you-?"

"No more questions!" Rukia said as she she ran to Ichigo. She went to his side and jumped again. With another kick to his head, he was sent flying out the open window. Inoue sweat-dropped at the scene they made, while Chad looked out the window again, completely drowning out the sounds that they were making.

"Inoue," Rukia called. Said girl looked at her and tilted her head in question. "I'm going to take Ichigo for a while, okay? Watch over his body." With a nod from the orange-haired girl, Rukia jumped down from the window and landed on the kneeling Ichigo's back.

"What the f-!" He was about to swear when Rukia grabbed him by the collar and dragged him out the school. She jumped from roof to roof, not bothering with the complaints that the man was ranting. She jumped past his father's clinic, which just missed them when he got out of the house.

Rukia kept on jumping from roof to roof until she reached the front yard of Urahara's Shop. There, she finally let go of the orange-haired man, who gasped and took in air while breathing heavily. A growl escaped his throat, causing Rukia's attention to come to him.

"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING DRAGGING ME FROM SCHOOL TO GO HERE, YOU WENCH!" he yelled. "You could've just fucking called, idiot!"

"You would take too long, considering it's you." Rukia said calmly, fueling Ichigo's anger again. All he was saying is that she should have warned him the next time she does that, but that clearly didn't come out the way he wanted to say it.

"What the hell does that mean?" He demanded. Rukia shrugged, her action causing Ichigo to get even angrier.

"Fucking answer me, you annoying dwarf!" And at last, Rukia was just as angry as him now. She rushed forward and head-butted Ichigo, their foreheads touching as their eyes locked in a dangerously fierce battle.

"Shut up, you useless pile of bullcrap!" she growled. "Just be glad I didn't brought Chappy with me today, or she would be the one occupying your useless shell!"

"What was that?!" Ichigo growled. They were both outraged from the insults, and then began to fight each other. They were fighting so hard, they didn't notice the sliding doors open to reveal the owner, Urahara with his paper fan covering part of his face.

"My, my…" he cooed. "Is it a Lover's quarrel I see?" Immediately, the pairs of eyes glared at him viciously and were boring holes in his face.

"WE ARE NOT A DAMNED COUPLE!" they both yelled with blushes on their faces. They stepped away from each other and walked over to the shop owner. They both gave an irritated scowl when they heard the hat-man chuckle at them. A few seconds later, Rukia changed from irritated to calm again. Urahara stopped his chuckling and just looked at the two.

"Is she still inside?" Rukia asked him. He nodded at her, causing the girl to relax and smile. She looked at Ichigo, who was still scowling but with confusion instead of anger. "Ichigo, I'd like you to meet someone."

"Huh?" Ichigo asked, obviously confused as to who this person is. Rukia ignored him while Urahara made way for them. Ichigo wasn't going in, which caught the shop owner's attention.

"Hey kid." He muttered. "Stop spacing out over there." With that, the orange-haired Substitute Soul Reaper snapped out of his wandering thoughts and entered the shop. He was led to the living room and he sat down across Rukia. Rukia nodded at him while he shrugged it off, then she turned to her left. An open door was there, and it seemed that Rukia was looking at someone. She nodded at the person who was hiding by the door. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open a little when the person revealed herself.

* * *

The girl who walked out the doors had long, wavy platinum blond hair just reaching her chest. She was wearing a standard Soul Reaper uniform, her one hand firmly placed on her Zanpaktou's hilt. Her skin was slightly pale, and her eyes held a light-pink color to them. Her chest was slightly bigger than normal, but not as big as Inoue's, by his judgment, and she looked like one of those dumb blond chicks. But since she was a Soul Reaper, he might think otherwise.

He eyed her as she sat down, her movements were fluid and he saw no hint of shyness from her as she eyed him, too. He blinked a few times at the new girl. Her face was pure, no trace of her being anywhere near a battle or a dead body in her life. Her look was innocent and alluring to some, but it had no effect on Ichigo. Looking back to Rukia, he was silently asking her who the hell this girl was. And as if reading his facial expression, she answers by beginning with a sigh.

"This girl is a new recruit from our division." Rukia stated. "Her name is Aveleria Solace. She was sent here from the Spirit World with me so she can train."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Aveleria said in a sweet tone, and then held out her hand. Ichigo smiled and accepted the hand and shook it gently. "And you are?" she asks suddenly.

"Kurosaki," He answered. "Ichigo Kurosaki. Really, you haven't heard of me?" He asked the girl curiously. She giggled a bit before smiling at him, her eyes half-open.

"Well, I have." She said. "They said that he was rough, thick-headed and irrational," As she said that, the insults piled over his head and he glared at empty space. "They didn't say that he was dashing, handsome and charming as well." That made the orange-haired man blush in an instant and got him to let go of her hand. He looked away from her, and this made the girl blink in confusion before putting her hand back to her lap. Rukia noticed his sudden action and smirked.

"Looks like someone made an impression…" she quietly cooed, one of her hands cupping the side of her mouth to direct it to Ichigo. She chuckled a bit when she received a glare from him.

"A-anyway…" Ichigo coughed, trying to change the topic from the seemingly confused blonde with them. He was right about one thing though, she was dense! But he was thankful that it was only at topics as such. "Why is she here? The war with Aizen is over, right? Why does she need to train, and here in the Human World of all places?"

"Well, yeah the war's over." Rukia answered. "But, you see…"

* * *

"_What?" A confused Rukia asked. She was now standing in front of Ukitake, her body movements clearly explaining her emotion of confusion. "I don't understand. What do you mean 'go back to the Human World'?" Sighing, the white-haired man waved a hand at her to tell her to sit down. She obliged, but still had that confused and serious look on her face._

"_The 13__th__ division has a new recruit." He explained to her. "And she says that she was interested in the Human World."_

"_Interested?" Rukia repeated. "Where is this new recruit, if I may ask?" Ukitake nodded at her, then sighed deeply._

"_Solace, get in here!" Ukitake ordered. A stumbling noise from outside could be heard followed by a squeaking sound made from a female voice. Then, the doors opened and in came rushing a girl with blond hair that Rukia had never seen before. She went beside the raven-haired petite and bowed down to her Captain._

"_Captain!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry for being late! What is it you ask of me?" She looked up to her captain, and Rukia saw her light-pink eyes._

"_Solace," Ukitake stated. "The woman beside you is the current Lieutenant of the 13__th__ Division, Rukia Kuchiki." The girl who was called Solace looked beside her and saw Rukia looking at her. Rukia waved at her formally, and was surprised when her hand was grabbed and was shook by the girl._

"_It is an honor to meet you, Lt. Rukia!" she exclaimed. "I am Aveleria Solace, currently at the 11__th__ seat of the 13__th__ Division!"_

"_11__th__?" Rukia clarified. Aveleria nodded slight, and smiled at the Lieutenant. "Well, I must say that's impressive for a rookie." And to that, Aveleria's face beamed up slightly, before calming down and just plainly smiling at her._

"_Rukia here will be your escort to the Human World, if that's all right with you, Rukia?" the captain interrupted._

"_Of course, Captain." She answered. "It's my duty as a Lieutenant to teach these rookies about the Human World. But I have to ask, why does she get to go to the Human World earlier than the others? Wasn't there a drill for this kind of training?"_

"_Well, her family are close friends of mine," Ukitake admitted. "They asked if she could go to the Human World for advanced training. Of course I couldn't let them down, and she shows great interest in the Human World, too."_

"_Yes I do." Aveleria said in a calm tone. "I'm interested to see the legendary sites that you once battled in, Lieutenant."_

"_Really now?" Rukia asked. "Then that's fine by me. If you'd like, I'll introduce you to someone that would help you train." The raven-haired smiled when she received a nod from Aveleria._

"_Then it's decided!" Ukitake said while clapping his hands. "Rukia, Solace, please go and prepare all the items you'll be needing for your time in the Human World. You'll be leaving tomorrow, is that clear?" The two women stood up and bowed to him. Before rising back up and answering._

"_Yes, sir." They said in unison. The white-haired Captain extended his left arm sideways to dismiss them, and they both left the room quietly._

_Outside, Rukia also dismissed Aveleria and told her to meet her at the Gate to the Human World. Once they agreed, they went their separate ways, because Aveleria still had to attend the orientation for the new recruits that their captain would be hosting. It seemed like she wouldn't have a break 'til night fall, so Rukia decided it was best to finish her business there, too._

* * *

"…The day later, we went to the Human World through Urahara's portal." Rukia finished. "We asked the perverted hat-man if he wanted to train her, but he denied it."

"What?" Ichigo asked in shock. "Hat-man is denying a _girl_ to train? What the fuck got into his mind to do something so out of character!" He exclaimed. He didn't realize that Urahara himself was standing behind him. He noticed that Rukia was making a weird face, while Aveleria was giggling. Then, he felt a light pat on his head. By the feel of it, the object was made of paper.

"Now, now, Kurosaki-san…" the perverted shop owner muttered. "You shouldn't say bad things about people behind their back, that's bad." As he kept tapping Ichigo's orange-haired head, the latter became more and more irritated. A few seconds later, he tried to swipe the fan from him while growling.

"Cut the crap!" he growled. "Anyway, why won't you train her?" he pointed to the blonde. With a flick of his hand, Urahara flipped open the fan and used it to hide his face again as he chuckled.

"Well, I did say that, didn't I?" he asked. "That's because I'm not suited to train her. A woman of her caliber couldn't possibly handle the training that I'll put her through. So…"

"So?" Ichigo asked. Urahara nodded, and used his fan again to point at someone. And that someone was Ichigo. To his shock, he pointed at himself, too.

"I assigned you to train her." Urahara simply smirks at the irritated scowl the orange-haired man made. "Don't be such a wuss, Ichigo. You can handle it!"

"I-I promise I'll behave…" He turned to see Aveleria looking at him. "I won't cause you any trouble, and I've already rented an apartment near your school. The landlord there was kind enough to deduct my costs by half. I'll be going to school as well, you see. I'm really interested in finding more about this world." The words flowed out naturally from her. Seeing as she was clearly saying the truth, Ichigo smiled and nodded.

"Alright." He said. "I'll train you, but know that I won't be going easy on you, okay?" At that, the blonde's face beamed up and she nodded happily.

"Someone's acting all cool…" Rukia chimed.

"Shut up!" Ichigo yelled angrily at the chuckling Rukia. He then stood up and started to walk out. Before the door, he stopped and looked back at them again. "Meet me after school, got that?"

"Oh, I thought we were coming with you?" Aveleria said. The orange-haired man blinked a few times, then looked at Rukia. Now that he looked more closely, she was wearing the standard Karakura High School Uniform. He then looked at Urahara, who was already holding a faux body for the newbie Soul Reaper. Dropping his head, he waved his hand at them. Rukia stood up followed by Aveleria.

"Okay, berry." Rukia teased. "Lead the way." With a comical vein popping in his forehead, he stomped his way out of the shop, the two girls following closely behind. Ironically, he thought that this was the thing that was off about today. Meeting a new recruit and becoming her trainer didn't sound bad at all. In fact, he was excited to see what this beginner could do.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Well, this is my very first "Bleach" fan fiction. I don't know much about the characters' behavior, so please forgive and tell me if there are any OoCs. And I'm sorry if there weren't enough swearing! I'm not used to swearing, and I'm trying my best to do that! And if I don't get used to it, how will I get used to Grimmjow's smart-assed mouth? XD**

**Anyway, 'til next chapter~!**

**Ja Ne~**


	2. Training Starts

_Aveleria: This is what happened the last time…_

_Ichigo: I was at school, doing normal crappy school stuff…_

_Aveleria: You were sleeping, Kurosaki-san. *sweat drops*_

_Ichigo: Whatever! Anyway, then Rukia comes in and-_

_Rukia: *kicks Ichigo on the head*_

_Ichigo: What the fu- *muffled sounds*_

_Aveleria: *covers Ichigo's mouth* *smiles*_

_Rukia: Anyway, I come in and introduce Aveleria;_

_Aveleria: *smiles* Nice to meet you all. Now, let's get on with the story!_

* * *

**Mine**

**Chapter 2:**

**Training Starts**

**Karakura High School…**

Ichigo ran as fast as he could back to his class. It was almost the end of lunch break, and he can't keep Orihime looking over his body while he's gone. He eventually got tired of running and jumped up one of the roofs, passing by Rukia and Aveleria as he did so. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he saw the two moving at a quicker pace than he was. They kept jumping until they reached the school grounds.

Running as fast as he could possibly can, he used the momentum to climb up to his room. Since it was on the third floor, Ichigo had a fair share of difficulties. He had to run faster as he headed up so he wouldn't lose balance and fall. He reached the window and ran straight through, hitting the door in the process. He slid down the door and painfully rubbed his head. When he looked back, Rukia and Aveleria were already walking outside. They passed by him and he looked at them with a confused face.

"Where the hell are you going?" Ichigo asked, already irritated by the day he was having today. The raven-haired petite only glanced at him, before leaving, Aveleria following closely behind. Ichigo stood up and made a weird face as the two closed the door. He was about to open them too when a hand tapped his shoulder. He turned back around to see his orange-haired best friend.

"Kurosaki-kun," Inoue muttered. "They'll be going back here. So you can rest easy in your body now. Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine." She smiled. Ichigo looked at her for a second, still a bit doubtful that they could be alright, but then smiled back and started to walk back to his body. He entered his body, and in an instant he became conscious in that body again. He stretched his arms and legs to lose the stiffness during his absence. Just then, as he was sitting back down, he heard a familiar male voice scream in happiness, causing him to stumble and slip from his seat.

"Rukia-chan~!" the brunette known as Keigo Asano cheered. "Welcome back~!" He was running towards Rukia and was about to tackle her into a hug when said girl stepped aside and raised her arm, causing Keigo's neck to make contact with her arm and making him spin round before dropping on the ground. The brunette was semi-knocked out from her defense, but quickly recovered when he saw Aveleria. His blood began to rush to his head when he saw her skirt flowing just a bit by the wind he created.

"W-who is she?" he asked to no one. "Is she a friend of yours, Rukia-chan?" He turned his head slightly to meet Rukia's gaze. He was confused as to who the girl was, probably just one of Rukia's vacation friends.

"Yes, she is." Rukia answered. "Her name is Aveleria Solace, and she'll be studying here from now on. I met her during our vacation out of town." At that, Keigo's eyes beamed up and he stood up at once. He examined the girl from top to bottom, then middle. When he spotted her larger than normal breasts, his eyes widened again. But before he could do anything, though, he felt sudden pain from his neck and he was suddenly knocked out.

"I hate perverted types." The blonde sneered as she withdrew her hand from his neck, letting his body go limp on the floor. "Lt. Rukia, are these people your friends?"

"Don't mind them." Rukia shrugged. "You'll learn to get along with them. And they are quite a fun group to be with." She smiled a bit, causing a small smile to etch itself onto Aveleria's face. Then the two began to wait for the homeroom teacher to show up.

* * *

After lunch, the teacher went and began introducing Rukia and Aveleria. Thanks to the Soul Society's device that erases, replaces, or reprograms one's memory, Rukia was able to pass off that she was just taking a long vacation along with her friend, a.k.a. the new blonde chick. After introductions, Rukia seated herself next to Ichigo, as for Aveleria, she seated herself by the edge of the room near the window.

The rest of the school day was pretty much normal, much for Ichigo's dismay. Because of this, he began to doze off again, not noticing that Aveleria was doing fairly well with the class. She was able to answer a few questions and even dictate some that weren't in the text. The teacher was glad that there was a student like that there, and he hoped that they would act like her. Some were already giving her deadly and jealous glares, but some were just too infatuated by her beauty that they don't even care about their academic studies. All the while Aveleria was thinking of one thing, actually.

'_I wish this school is over so I can start training!' _she exclaimed inwardly. She was staring outside the window at the time, the teacher's lectures coming out as silent hushes in her ear. Her elbow was on the table and bent over so her hand could support the weight of her head. Her pinkish eyes stared blankly out the trees outside, and watched as the birds outside danced freely in the air.

'_I'm so glad I became a Soul Reaper…'_ she sighed with content. She then glanced sideways at a couple of students who were laughing about something that she couldn't quite hear. _'These guys... How do they go off and have fun? And I wonder what they actually do for fun? I heard from Lt. Rukia that there is a place here called an arcade, where you can enjoy yourself to your heart's content. I wish I could go there…'_

The sun wasn't that far up in the sky, and it was starting to set, forming that beautiful orange-yellow sky. _'It sure is nice…' _she sighed.

'…_It feels really nice… To be free from the chains like this…' _She closed her eyes and let the chirping of the birds drown out all thoughts in her head.

'_So free…_' Suddenly, the sound of the school bell ringing broke her out of her trance. In mild disappointment, she grumbled something incoherent before standing up with the other students to greet their teacher goodbye. As the students began to leave the classroom to do their own business or go home, the blonde newbie stretched her arms and felt the warm sunset rays.

"Oh hello there…" A female voice caught her attention. She looked sideways to see one of her classmates, Inoue Orihime.

"Aveleria-san, right?" she asked. A nod confirmed her suspicions and she grinned. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is-"

"Orihime." She finished. The orange-haired girl blinked a few times, then hummed in question. Aveleria giggled softly, took hold of her hand, and began to shake it in greeting. "Lt. Rukia has told me all about you and your adventures here. I'm actually really excited to meet you!"

"O-oh...!" Orihime chuckled nervously. "I see… Well, that's good to know. What brings you here to the Human World? I've heard from Kuchiki-san that you're a new recruit from her squad."

"Yes, I am." She answered. "I came here to the Human World to train myself. And it was my greatest fortune that Lt. Rukia decided to help me. I've seen her take down more Hollows than I could ever do with just one swing from her Sode no Shirayuki. She's really amazing, you know?"

A few feet away from them but near sound distance, Rukia blushed at the comment. She still wasn't used to people complementing her skill with her sword after becoming Lieutenant. Hearing someone say that made her happy and embarrassed at the same time. Disregarding the thought for now, she went up to Ichigo, who was finally up and yawning while stretching his arms, and hit him lightly in the arm.

"Hey, what's up?" Ichigo said with a raspy voice. He had just woken up, so it was natural for him, or anyone for that matter, to have a rather raspy or dry voice when they wake up.

"You're going to train Solace, right?" she asked, pointing over to the blonde chatting with Orihime. "She needs this, and so do you. A little extra training won't do you any harm."

"Fine, fine…" Ichigo grumbled. "I'll train her. But if she can't hold out for more than 5 minutes, I'm done with her, got that?" Rukia felt the slight arrogance in his voice, which she didn't like for some reason, and smirked.

"Oh? Are you saying that the people from my squad can't hold out against you for more than 5 minutes? Is that it?" she asked in a sarcastic tone. The orange-haired spike head glared at her for a moment, then sighed.

"Whatever…" he said. "Let's just go to Hat-and-Clog's." He stood up from his seat and strode over to where Aveleria and Orihime were.

"Yo, Orihime, Aveleria." He said. The two looked at him and both smiled. Orihime waved a hand at him and giggled. Then she tapped Aveleria on the shoulder, causing the girl to look at her.

"It's getting late," she stated. "So I'll be going now, okay? Have fun on your training, Aveleria-san, Kurosaki-kun." She gave a small bow to the two before skipping along her merry way. The orange-haired male waved at her, before setting his sights on the pair of pink eyes staring at him.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he stretched his head before letting out a deep sigh. This caused the blonde to blink before backing up a little, as if she did something wrong.

"Now, you're training will begin immediately." He said, sounding like a true master. He saw her form a huge smile in front of him, and this made him feel good inside. _'Wow! This –sensei crap feels good! I think I'm gonna enjoy having a student, even if it is a pain in the ass.'_ He thought to himself.

"Alright…!" Aveleria cheered. "I'm really looking forward to it, Kurosaki-sensei!" she bowed half-way to Ichigo, who was currently embarrassed about the honorific 'sensei'. Blinking away his embarrassment, he cleared his throat and says,

"Our training will be conducted at the Underground Training Room of Urahara Kisuke. I hope you're prepared to work without sleeping?" The girl rose up from her bow, and made a salute with her left hand.

"Yes, Kurosaki-sensei." She answered.

"All right…!" Ichigo roared, marching out of the room. Aveleria followed him, walking a few phases away from him. Rukia watched them as they both left the area.

"He must really like the idea of having a pupil, huh?" she asked herself. Chuckling in her own amusement, she rushed out after the two. She could tell that Ichigo wasn't going to give up on this challenge. And she was also curious as to how long Aveleria could last under Ichigo. He was a very skilful swordsman, and a powerful Soul Reaper. Plus, he has the ability to transform himself into a Hollow, not to mention his very high spiritual pressure.

* * *

The walk to Hat-and-Clog's shop was anything but silent. The whole way, Ichigo was bragging about his fights and wins against a lot of powerful Hollows and even Captains. Aveleria was learning all about Ichigo's fights and even about Aizen's betrayal and the reason behind it. She hadn't joined the 13 Court Guard Squads that time, so she was unaware of the happenings in Soul Society.

What interested her the most was the fight of the Soul Reapers against the Arrancar, a race of powerful Hollows who evolved past their monstrous forms, gained human-like appearances, and gained power that would equal, if not surpass, the powers of even a Captain Soul Reaper.

"I've heard stories about those 'Arrancar', too." Aveleria muttered in amazement. "So you mean that you and Lt. Rukia-"

"Please," Rukia said, causing the blonde to turn to her. "Just call me Rukia…" She smiled a bit when she noticed the smile on her face again.

"So you mean that you and Rukia-san were included in the people who stopped Captain Aizen from creating the Royal Key and assassinating the Spirit King?"

"Yep, that's right!" Ichigo laughed. "But those shit-heads were no match for me! Right, Rukia?" He looked at the silent raven-head, who just humped in amusement before shaking her head.

"Whatever you say Berry-san," Rukia cooed. At that, a comical vein popped on Ichigo's forehead.

"What the hell does that mean?!" Ichigo yelled, making Aveleria giggle at their little scene. Her giggle became stifles of her laughter as she bit her lip when Ichigo started to pinch Rukia's cheeks and pull them.

"Hey, dwarf." Ichigo smirked. "What the hell did you mean by that? Are you saying that I was no match for those good-for-nothings?"

"Stof shweawing, you knuckw-head! ( Stop swearing, you knuckle-head! )" Rukia shouted while Ichigo continued to pull on her cheeks. She became irritated and angry when Ichigo began to cackle at his torture. With one, swift kick in the groin, Rukia escaped Ichigo's hands and he lied limp on the ground, holding his precious nuts.

"B-bitch …" he croaked. Rukia simply smirked at his reaction and began to drag him by the collar. She passed by the clueless Aveleria, who was about to ask her where they were going when Rukia spoke.

"Let's get moving." Rukia ordered. "We can't be slacking off like this. Captain wants to see progress in the first week. Move it!" At that, the blonde squeaked at the order before following beside her.

"Y-yes, ma'am," She stuttered. "B-by the way Rukia-san, will he be okay enough to train me?" Rukia hummed in question at her question, and saw that the blonde was pointing downwards. She looked down to see Ichigo's face completely blank and knocked out. Her kick in his balls must have hurt a lot for him to stay knocked out like this. Smirking at her work, she hummed and continued to walk along.

"I'm sure he'll wake up sooner or later…" Rukia chimed. Aveleria let a roll of sweat drop from her forehead, but shrugged it off quickly and went a little behind Rukia to watch over her sensei's condition. When the sun has completely set, they finally reached Urahara's shop. There, the perverted ex-Soul Reaper along with his two employees, Ururu and Jinta, was waving at them.

"Yo~!" he said, flapping his fan in the air before hiding his face with it. "You're late, you know? Ururu and Jinta had prepared the Training Room." The black-haired child smiled at them while the redhead boy scoffed.

"This way, please." The young woman said, making way for the two girls and the passed out Ichigo. Jinta got one glimpse on his face before he roared in laughter.

"What happened to him?!" the redhead pointed a finger at him with a grin on his face. "He looked like he got kicked in the balls!"

"That's because he did." Aveleria corrected. Jinta laughed even louder at this, and Urahara wasn't doing anything to stop him. Unfortunately for him, the orange-haired teen woke up just in time to see him still laughing. Lucky for Ichigo, Rukia had pulled him up all the way and his feet were just in the right spot. It was just too sweet to pass up.

Lifting his leg, he delivered a solid kick on the laughing brat's own groin, causing him to cease his laughter and bite his tongue, then fall unconscious on the floor. The resulting knock out made Ichigo burst into laughter himself.

"Serves you right, bastard!" he wheezed out, pointing at the passed out redhead. But before he could gloat more, he felt a harsh tug from his collar, and he was sent flying down the training room by none other than Rukia. He tumbled down the stairs before landing face first. He groaned as he started to get back up and removed dust from his uniform.

"Stop screwing around, Ichigo!" Rukia nearly yelled from atop. "We need to start this training, ASAP!" As she went down, she separated her soul from her faux body and let the artificial soul look after it upstairs. Seeing this, Ichigo pulled out his Soul Badge and did the same, putting his body in a safe spot between Ururu and a passed out Jinta. He held a smirk in his face as he stuck his tongue out at the redhead brat. He then went to a large area of the rocky terrain. Rukia was sitting on top of a large rock as she watched Aveleria go near the same area. Ichigo was surprised to see the blonde still in her faux body.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to remove your faux body first?" Ichigo asked the blonde. "You know I won't be holding back just because you're a girl, right?"

"I know." She answered. "But trust me, I'll leave this on for now." She smiled at him, which confused Ichigo, but nevertheless shrugged it off and took his Zanpakuto by hand. He kept a sharp eye at the seemingly innocent girl, and took a step forward.

"You ready?" Aveleria asked. Ichigo's eye seemed to unknowingly twitch before he growled in response. Thinking that it was an okay, the blonde started to run towards him. Ichigo prepared to defend using Zangetsu.

About five feet away from Ichigo, Aveleria used her speed as momentum to leap into the air and do a summersault, making her feet face the broad side of Ichigo's sword. She flexed her legs with kicks, Ichigo successfully defending against each one. She didn't stop the flurry of kicks, pushing the orange-haired teen back a few more feet. She ended the attack by using the blade as balance to launch herself into the air again, as to which Ichigo responded by cutting in thin air.

He glared upwards and saw that her left side was facing him. In the air like that, Ichigo thought that she would be leaving herself vulnerable to any form of attack. But what he didn't know was the soul pill in her hand. Since she was high up in the air, she started to spin sideways in moderate speed, leaving herself open towards Ichigo. The orange-head smirked at how easy this girl was going to lose, and positioned his sword to where it was least fatal for her. Because from her position, he might accidentally chop her head off. But when he saw her neck form a bump and gulped it, he was too late to think twice. The faux body was removed from her, went away for safety and she came out with her sword in her right hand, ready to take out. The spinning motion was to distract him from looking at her face for a while. With one last spin, she drew her Zanpakuto out from its sheathe and it collided with Ichigo's sword.

"What the hell?" Ichigo asked in shock. The resulting clash sent both of them flying a few yards away. Ichigo managed to keep his balance and Aveleria managed to land on an elevated rock formation.

"Well, I've been thinking," Aveleria began. "The faux bodies and soul pills can be used anytime, right? So I figured it could be used as a distraction and I'm so glad it worked!" she said. She was standing on the platform, her sword extended as she crossed her arm partly on her chest. Ichigo smirked before chuckling with no apparent reason.

"That caught me by surprise," Ichigo shouted. "But that's not gonna get me again!" With that being said, he was surrounded with a white aura, physically showing that he was increasing his spiritual pressure, a level that Aveleria couldn't handle. She gasped in shock that Ichigo would increase his spiritual pressure to that of a Captain during training.

She moved her right foot forward and braced herself from the expected attack. When the aura vanished, Ichigo was still, the dusty wind blowing through the battlefield. Aveleria kept her sharp look on Ichigo, and didn't let her guard down for a second. She was shocked, however, when Ichigo disappeared from sight using his Flash Step. She wasn't quick enough when she realized that she was behind him. And when she turned around, Ichigo used the force of his palm on her stomach to send her flying backwards. She flipped herself up and growled at Ichigo.

"That really hurt!" she whined. Ichigo frowned at this, and before she could whine again, he was already behind her.

"Stop acting like a bratty bitch!" he shouted, causing her to turn to him. "You wanted training, right? This isn't some damn kindergarten, so pull yourself together or else…" he muttered the last part in a serious voice. "I might end up killing you." Her pink eyes widened in horror about this. Kill her? She thought this was just training, but apparently, this _is_ training for them. Sighing, she took a step back from Ichigo and held her sword with one hand.

"I'm ready." She said, trying to sound brave but in reality she was close to shaking. Ichigo smirked at her words and held his sword tightly. Another dust of wind blew by just then. And when the smoke cleared, the two moved at incredibly high speed using their Flash Steps, and made their swords collide. Ichigo had swung his sword down to block a surprise attack from Aveleria. She was bent down, her left hand supporting her. Since Ichigo was using both his hands during the fight, Aveleria used this chance to lift herself up without removing any force from the sword, and surprised Ichigo by landing two solid kicks on his shoulder and side, sending him a few feet away. The blonde spun with one hand before flipping herself back up, sword still in one hand.

"I don't get it." Ichigo muttered, causing the blonde to raise an eyebrow. "Why do you need to go through training when you can clearly go up against me for a good few minutes?"

"Why?" she repeated. "I just want to get stronger that's all. And I know that you can help me with that." She squints her eyes and shifted her weight to her left leg. She didn't wait for Ichigo to get ready when she charged forward. Ichigo prepared and successfully defended her attack. She was making a flurry of cuts with her sword with one hand. All Ichigo could do now was to defend against her.

She continued to lash out her attack, striking Ichigo's Zanpakuto while he effortlessly defends them. Ichigo noticed that she was only using her right hand to deliver her blows, and the left hand remained for either distraction or for gracing her attacks. He could tell that from the way she attacks, she focused more on how the attack would come out rather than the force that was needed in any battle.

Her strikes ended when Ichigo ceased his defending and countered with his own slash. They froze on their spot, both shaking from the force that they applied to keep themselves balanced. Though, Ichigo knew that she would be beaten if she didn't use her other hand. He eventually overpowered her and forced her to back away, jumping back twice before using Flash Step to land safely on a rock. She had rooted her Zanpakuto on the ground, her legs knelt and stretched while her other hand supported her. She was already panting and sweating hard, not because of the physical work, but because of his spiritual pressure.

"Why aren't you using your other hand?" Ichigo asked. "You know we could've been balanced if you used it. What's the point of having two arms if you only use one?"

"No can do…" Aveleria muttered, causing Ichigo to blink in confusion. She held up her arm and smiled. "This hand, can only hold my Zanpakuto when I need it to be released. It carries no extra power, but it's in my own code to not use this hand until I use my shikai." She didn't struggle in getting up and looked up at Ichigo. "I understand if you think it's pointless, and I'm sorry for wasting your time. I guess I'm not worth it to train…"

"What are you talking about, Ave-san?" Urahara's voice suddenly caught their attention. "You were going up against Ichigo back there, even though he was holding back and all. But that was impressive, to go up against him at 20% of his power."

"T-twenty percent…?" Aveleria repeated in shock. Urahara nodded at her, and she looked at Ichigo for confirmation. He grinned sheepishly, scratched the back of his head, and nodded. "I-I see…"

'_I wasn't even a match for him at 20%?!'_ she asked herself. But she snapped back to reality when she worried about her training. "So that means that you'll train me?"

"Why not…?" Ichigo shrugged. "I mean, you were good enough for me. There's no harm in making you stronger." At that, Aveleria's eyes beamed with joy. She bowed in front of Ichigo to show her deepest appreciation and gratitude.

"Thank you so much, Kurosaki-sensei!" she said. She then let another drop of sweat roll down her cheek when she heard him yawn. She looked up to see him scratching his backside and trudging back up.

"W-wait!" she exclaimed. "Where are you going, Kurosaki-sensei?" Ichigo hummed in question before turning to her, his dull and sleepy expression plainly visible for the girl.

"Oh, right… Well, we have school tomorrow, and I'm dead tired already. Let's continue this tomorrow, okay?" He asked the girl before going to his body.

"O-okay then…" Aveleria agreed. _'But he was the one who said no breaks, right?' _She had already felt tired from their first day of training, and she decided he was right. It was barely a day 1, she was tired and he wasn't even at full power yet! Creating a yawn of her own, she re-entered her faux body and put the soul pill back to her pocket.

"See you tomorrow, Urahara-san." She smiled.

"Bye bye~!" Urahara waved his fan at her and grinned. The girl nodded at him before running back up. Only Rukia and Urahara were left downstairs. The raven-haired petite walked over to the yellowish-white haired man.

"We'll be using your training room for a while. I hope you don't mind." She said in a calm tone. Hat-and-Clogs only heaved a sigh before standing up and walking away, causing Rukia's gaze to follow him.

"Just try not to leave any blood if possible." Was all he said before he came back up the stairs. Rukia nodded to herself before silently following the stairway up.

* * *

The moon was high, and even though it was a half moon, its glow was just as wonderful. Aveleria was walking freely to her new apartment. She was already near the school, so she wouldn't be late.

'_I wonder where Rukia-san is staying?'_ she asked herself. _'I think she and Ichigo make a lovely couple. And it seemed like they get along so well, too!'_ Giggling at her own thought, she reached the end of her journey and to an apartment. She opened the gates quietly, because everyone was asleep, closed it and went up to the second floor. Her room was on the far end at the edge of the apartment. She tiptoed quietly to her room and with her key, she opened the door.

It was just a regular apartment. It was covered with light-blue wallpaper and carpeted floors. A lime-green sofa was facing a small television set in the living room, a small circular glass table between them. The kitchen was any normal kitchen. Cupboards stacked with basic ingredients and packets for sauces. By the counter, there was a toaster, a microwave, a wooden container for knives, a light-green plastic container for plates and cups, and a stainless steel sink. There was also a fridge already stocked with fresh goods she bought earlier the day they arrived. She went to her bathroom, -which was plain white from all corners except her own bathroom goods-, turned on the shower, and rinsed off the sweat from the training.

After a good few minutes in the shower, she stepped out clad in a white towel and walked to her bedroom. It was on the last room in the apartment, but it was the coziest. The walls were painted carnation pink, and the floor carpeted with magenta synthetic wool. The bed can be extended so it could fit two people, and there was a wooden desk that was near the window. The best part was the window. It was the edge of the apartment, so she could see the glow of the moon and stars every night, and the early rays of the sun in the morning. Sighing in relief, she took the towel of her and rummaged through her orange-colored cabinet.

She'd put on a tight pair of shorts that was a little more above the knees, a plain white t-shirt that stops at the bottom half, exposing her stomach and belly. Since she was just going to bed, she didn't wear any underwear. She climbed onto bed and turned off the lamp that was near her.

'_I wish I could do this every day…'_ And with that last thought, she let sleep drift her off from reality.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Here's another update on my story. What do you think of it so far? Is it 'Bleach' enough for you? If not, then please tell me what I'm doing wrong so I don't end up making a fool out of Aveleria. XD Anyway, thank you for supporting this story and please review! And support my other stories like "Fairy Homes", "Demons of New Earthland", "Me and Fairy Tail", and "After School Fun"! XD**

**Ja Ne~**


	3. Wayward Souls

_Aveleria: Previously on "Mine"…_

_Ichigo: Aveleria finally got some training thanks to yours truly… *smirks*_

_Rukia: But because of his lazy attitude, he decided to continue it tomorrow, idiot._

_Ichigo: Shut the hell up, you-!_

_Rukia: *smacks Ichigo's head* Quiet! We're about to continue where we left off…_

_Aveleria: And, begin~!_

* * *

**Mine**

**Chapter 3:**

**Wayward Souls**

Aveleria awoke as the sun's rays hit her face. The soothing glow of sunshine was enough to stir her from her sleep. Rubbing her eyes gently, she slowly sat up from her bed and stretched her arms. With a satisfied hum, she clapped her hands to her cheeks and ran to the kitchen. She was quick to go to the fridge to take two slices of bread, and put them on the toaster by the counter. She went back to the fridge and took one egg and a carton of orange juice.

The blonde placed the carton of the juice by the table and grabbed a frying pan. She went to the stove, located between the sink and some of the cutlery, and started to cook the egg sunny-side up style. Once finished, she also heard the toaster ding, signaling her that her toast was ready. Quick to work, she turned off the stove and walked over to the toasts, grabbed them and placed them on the table over a small plate. She took the pan and using a fork, she put the finished egg on top of the bread slices. She went to the cabinet to get a glass and poured her juice. Once that was done, she took a glance at the clock that was hanging from the living room. It was visible from where she was standing in the kitchen.

'_I still have an hour before school starts…'_ she thought to herself. _'I'd better go take a shower first.' _With that, she chugged down the flavored liquid and ate her egg sandwich before walking to the bathroom. She took all of her clothes off and stepped in the shower, turned it on, and sighed as the warm water hit her body. Her habit of always having to be clean gave her that flawless skin of hers, but sometimes it gets too far gone. She slid her hands onto her hair, letting the water run through it. She then moved her hands to cover her face before wiping the water that slips in her eyes. Her thoughts wandered outward, thinking of Ichigo's stories about his and Rukia's adventures with their friends. Her mind kept going back to the story about the Arrancar. How they transcended from being mere Hollows and attaining a human form was interesting.

'_I wonder if I could see one...' _Aveleria thought. _'Kurosaki-sensei told me that there were a few survivors, but they never leave Hueco Mundo at all.'_ With an exasperated sigh, she continued her morning bathroom rituals. Afterwards, she stepped out and grabbed a towel, this time a light-blue color. She went over to the sink, and there was a mirror cabinet on top. She opened it and took her toothbrush. As she brushed, her mind wondered again to the Arrancar.

'_I wish I could see one of them. It would certainly be an interesting encounter, that's for sure.'_ After brushing her teeth, she went back to her room to change into her uniform. The standard uniform that consists of a grey-colored polo with long sleeves that reaches down to the hands and a grey mini-skirt that's slightly above the knee. She wore white socks that reached a little above her ankles, and low-heel black shoes.

After looking at herself from a whole-body mirror, she smiled and bounced out of her apartment. She locked the door and put the key in her pocket before going down and exiting the building. The walk from there to the school was about 20 minutes, and Aveleria certainly didn't mind the walk. It always gave her time to refresh her thoughts as she adjusts to living as a normal human.

* * *

It also gave her time to sort out her thoughts. All she was thinking about since yesterday were Arrancar. Arrancar this, Arrancar that… She almost forgot to wash the dishes because of that. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair then tucking the strands behind her ear. Really, she should just be focusing on blending in with the humans and completing her training, even though she started yesterday and it lasted a few minutes. Still, she shivered at the fact that Ichigo's spiritual pressure was greater than she imagined. If not for her curiosity she wouldn't have found out about it. Who knew that her mentor was hiding power like that? And just to train her?

Smiling to herself, she let the early morning breeze pass her face and hair, gently blowing against her blond strands.

"Kurosaki-sensei sure is nice…" she said to herself.

"Damn right I am," A voice answered from behind. Aveleria squeaked and jumped from her spot. She turned around to see a smirking Ichigo and Rukia leaning against the ever-common white wall. She waved a hand at her junior, who waved back after regaining her composure from that little fright.

"W-what are you guys doing here?" she asked in general. Truly, she wasn't expecting an early visit in the middle of the street from these two. They lived at opposite sides of the school, so she was curious as to why she was being bathed in their presence.

"I was thinking," Ichigo began. "Since you're already a Soul Reaper, you should know all the basics by now, right?" A nod from the blonde was a silent moment before he continued. "Then tonight we'll be Hollow-hunting. Tomorrow's a weekend anyway, so we can stay up all night! How's that sound?" he suggested.

"Sure," Aveleria answered. "But, couldn't this wait at school?" she asked him. At that, she heard Rukia sigh. She looked at her and she was walking to them, her expression amused.

"Ichigo is always childish like this," Rukia began. "But he was just making sure you're doing fine on your own."

"Yeah," the orange-haired teen continued. "I was a little worried that you might bump into trouble so I wanted to make sure nothin' was wrong." He said, making the girl blush a bit.

"Y-you were worried, about me?" she asked, her voice coming out a little quieter than it should. Ichigo nodded, and it caused her blush to be almost visible. "T-thank you…"

"Nah, don't worry about it…" he said. "I'm your mentor, aren't I? It's only natural that I should worry about you." The blush left her face when she heard this. She hadn't known Ichigo at all, only yesterday and for a few minutes, so it was to be expected. Plus having a crush on your mentor might make things more… awkward. Lots of physical contact, alone time, and even personal secrets that can be shared. She wouldn't feel comfortable enough to train at all if that were to happen.

"Well," they heard Rukia's voice from behind. "We should go to school now. No use standing around here." She walked passed them, making them follow her lead. The orange-haired teen went beside the raven-haired petite, allowing Aveleria to get a good view of their backs, which wasn't that great for the blonde if you asked her.

The walk to school was quiet, except for the two Soul Reapers in front of Aveleria talking, and her humming a little song that she had picked up at the Academy back in Soul Society. It's usually just to keep her calm, but the atmosphere itself was very calm that she only felt like humming it. Watching her two superiors in front of her, walking and talking to each other casually with occasional cursing and beatings, each just seemed so natural. Yet the way they do it was something in the boundaries of friendship to much like a married couple.

'_I wonder if there's something happening between these two…?"_ Aveleria asked herself as she watched her mentor grab her Lieutenant in a head lock.

"Give up, midget!" he laughed as the petite woman failed to get out of his grip. Laughing a little more, he tightened his hold and she quickly moved her hands to try and pry those arms trapping her. Irritated, she took the chance while Ichigo was distracted and kneed him in his crotch again, successfully getting her out of his grip.

Lucky for Ichigo Rukia didn't apply too much force on his private areas, or he would be incapable of producing children. He slumped to the ground when Rukia got out of the way, his body rolling on the ground. It only took a second for him to regain feeling back in his legs and he sat on the street cross-legged, debating whether or not to smack the midget in the head for pulling another dirty trick like that.

"You still have a long way to go, strawberry," Rukia teased. "I'm just that-"

Her gloating was interrupted when all three of them sensed a familiar spiritual pressure. Immediately, Rukia pulled out her Divine Messenger Machine and flipped it open to reveal the screen. It showed their location, represented by three yellow dots, and the Hollow's as well. There were five red dots, each larger than the other.

"This is bad…" Rukia muttered. "Ichigo!" She didn't need to say it to him; it was just a habit of hers to warn the orange-haired teen about Hollow attacks.

"I know." He answered. "How many…?"

"There are five; and each more powerful than the other." Rukia answered. "Two are by the park, one is just a block away from Aveleria's house," she looked back at the direction from where they went. Then, she looked at the direction of the school. "The other two are near the school…"

"What?!" Ichigo shouted. With a confirming nod from the raven-haired petite, Ichigo was quick to move and took out his soul badge. In an instant, his soul left his body and he was rushing for the school.

"I'm going to school!" he yelled, the figures of the two girls disappearing from view. He turned his head back to focus on the two Hollows near his school. Meanwhile, Rukia took out Chappy from her pocket and swallowed the pill. She also reverted to her Soul Reaper form, urging Aveleria to follow the same steps.

"I'll go to the park," the Lieutenant said. "You go back to your house and eliminate that Hollow before anything disastrous happens."

"Yes ma'am," she answered before the petite raven leapt into the air and landed on the roof, proceeding to run towards the location of the two Hollows.

* * *

Nodding to herself, Aveleria ran as fast she can back to her home. It wasn't that long since she left her apartment, so it was strange that she didn't sense the Hollow until now. She shrugged the thought away and focused on finding and defeating the evil soul before it could hurt anyone in the vicinity. Skidding to a stop at a corner, she caught her breath slightly before running again. When she saw the roof of her apartment, she leapt into the air, overshadowing the structure as she cast her pink gaze towards it.

Above the brick-layered roof, a Hollow of what seemed to looked like a mixture of a dog and a lizard. Its mask is elongated to the shape of dog's muzzle and its body appears more canine; big and brawny, dark red fur covering its entire body. The legs are covered with white Hollow bones, and aside from the webbed feet, they still looked like regular paws. Its reptilian tail swatted impatiently on the roof, as if waiting for something to happen. The narrow-slit eyes of the Hollow caught her midair as she lands a few feet from it, hissing out an angry tone with its reptilian tongue.

The blonde examined the Hollow firmly before pulling out her zanpakuto with her right hand. She outstretched her left hand behind her, bending her knees slightly as she prepared to fight. The two stared down at each other for a while, analyzing each movement and breathing. The Hollow seemed to be the impatient one in their little eye-to-eye contact because seconds later, it disappeared, surprising the blonde Soul Reaper.

'_It's fast...!'_ Aveleria gasped inwardly. Then, she was surprised again by the short gust of wind as a large shadow cast before her. She turned to see the Hollow, one reptilian claw outstretched and ready to attack her. Quick on her feet, she reeled back her left hand and flipped back a few feet to avoid the claw of her attacker. The beast growled in frustration as it misses its target, then disappears once again. Getting back to her battle stance, she readies herself for the attack. Pulling her sword up and swinging it to her side, she manages to block the Hollow's claw. She smirked at the angry growl she elicited from the Hollow before they both disappeared, reappearing in an instant a few feet above the house, floating in midair like it's no one's business.

"You may be fast," Aveleria said to the beast. "But you are still no match for me…" she placed her right foot forward, her hand and sword following suite, while her left remained still beside her hip, hand slightly bent sideways.

"Now," she swung her sword to her side. "…To show you what real speed is about."

* * *

Meanwhile, Ichigo was racing towards the school; the establishment almost within reach. His hazel eyes determined to protect his friends from those who try to hurt them. He jumped over a fence from a random house and saw two Hollows nearing the school. They stopped, however, when they felt a much more satisfying meal behind them. They turned around to see Ichigo standing, holding Zangetsu and ready to fight.

The Hollow that looked like a cross of a zebra and a cougar huffed, air leaving its horse-like nose and face. Its body was more lean and cougar-looking, but the hooves tell otherwise. The other, however, didn't look like any sort of mixture or combination. It was more lean and a little humanoid in shape, green skin and was standing, albeit sluggish, upright. The massive difference of spiritual pressure caught Ichigo's attention as he stared down at the humanoid Hollow whose mask covered not only its face, but a portion of its neck and shoulder blades as well.

"Well, well," the Hollow said, its voice sounding like two people talking at the same time. "Looks like we found ourselves a Soul Reaper! We're gonna have the time of our lives eating this pathetic looking thing, aren't we Zorco?" It turned to the other Hollow, who shook his head violently while tapping its hoof on the ground, digging the dirt below it.

"Alright," the other said. "You can go take him down on your own." With this, Ichigo's glare intensified. He saw the horse-like Hollow charge at him with full speed. Bringing the flat end of Zangetsu in front of him, he blocked the charge only to be pushed back a couple of feet.

'_Damn it!'_ Ichigo thought to himself. _'Looks like this could take a whole lot longer than I expected. Bastards...'_

* * *

Rukia jumped down the stairs and ran to the open ground of the park. She was sure that those two Hollows were there, but she saw no signs of them. Slowly, she walked further in, looking for any signs that could tell her where the Hollows were hiding.

It didn't take her long to find out, though. A maniacal laughter rang through her ear from behind. She quickly turned to see a humanoid Hollow with bluish-white skin with sharp pointed spear tips for hands. Its Hollow mask was long and shaped like a native's mask. It was ready to spear Rukia's back when another Hollow pushed it away. Its hands were like normal human hands, only larger and had sharp nails. Its Hollow mask covered the entirety of his head and had orange skin. They both stumbled away from Rukia before standing and glaring at each other.

"What the hell was that for?!" the bluish Hollow cried out.

"I told you I was the one to kill first, didn't I?!" the other one spoke.

"No! I'm the one who should kill because I'm better than you!" the other one replied smugly. The two Hollows were both humanoid in form and this piqued Rukia about something.

'_Are they…?'_ Rukia thought to herself. She examined the two arguing Hollows closely. '_Ability to speak, more advanced and lean-built bodies…?'_

"Just because you became Adjhucas-class before me doesn't mean you're stronger!" the orange one spoke. At that, Rukia's eyes widened at the realization and confirmation of her guess.

'_So they are Adjhucas!'_ she exclaimed inwardly. The two seemed too busy that they weren't even acknowledging their enemy, a sign that they must be the newbie or beginner class of Adjhucas. Thinking that this must be the easiest fight she had entered yet, Rukia pulled out her sword. She stretched it forward and rotated it counter-clockwise.

"_Mae," _she uttered. _"Sode no Shirayuki." _The normal-looking sword transformed, turning pure white from sword tip to hilt, and the white tail flowed elegantly as snow danced around the raven head. Bringing the tip of her sword to the ground, she poked the land, infusing it with her spiritual pressure. She did this about four times, each at least a few inches away from the other, before bending her knees slightly, her hands holding her sword and facing it towards the enemy.

"_Tsugi no mai," _she recited. _"Hakuren!"_ The instant she released the command, a compressed form of a blizzard gathered round her sword, and within seconds, it shot out and flowed directly towards her enemies.

"Why you…! Huh?" The bluish Hollow was about to strike the orange one for it said something insulting before it noticed the temperature dropped dangerously low, at freezing temperature, in fact. The two turned their heads to see the cold front of the blizzard heading for them. They yelped before running away, trying to escape their early deaths. But it was too late. The snow completely covered them, freezing them and suspending them in a block of ice.

Returning to her normal stance, she held her zanpakuto straight up. She swept the air with it as she turned around, the ice beginning to crack along with the gesture. When she was fully turned back, the ice shattered, shattering the two Adjhucas-class Hollows. Smirking to herself, she returned her zanpakuto to its original state before reaching for the Divine Messenger Machine she took from her faux body. There were still two Hollows present on the screen; each for Aveleria and Ichigo. But then as she was about to close the device, a signal made it beep causing her to open it again.

There was another Hollow found within the vicinity where Aveleria was. It was more powerful than the one she was fighting against.

"This is bad…" she muttered to herself. She turned to the direction where her blonde subordinate was before using Flash Step to try and come to her aid.

* * *

Ichigo panted a bit before pulling Zangetsu and swinging it towards the enemy. The horse-like Hollow wasn't that hard to beat, but it was fast. It tired Ichigo out trying to swing at least a lethal blow on it. Lucky for him, he hit it right before it was about to dash again, killing it instantly. Now, he was tired and fighting against what he guessed was an Adjhucas-class Hollow. It reminded him that time when they were trapped in the Forest of Menos while trying to rescue Orihime. The Adjhucas looked a lot like this one, and the same power too.

"Damn you, Soul Reaper!" the green-skinned Hollow hissed. "You're going to pay for killing Zorco!" Ichigo only looked at him with determination in his eyes, and that caused the Hollow to growl out in anger. It lunged forward, clenching its fist to try and punch Ichigo. But, as what he did during the other times this Hollow tried to punch him, he faced its fist with the flat of his sword, easily overpowering it with his spiritual pressure. This time, he threw the Hollow upward. It flew a few feet from the ground and was completely open. Ichigo took this chance to finish off the Hollow completely. He gathered spiritual pressure into Zangetsu and it started to glow white.

"_Getsuga Tensho!" _He swung his sword upwards and released the energy he stored in a form of a white slash. It engulfed the Hollow who tried to resist the impact. The Hollow cried out in pain as it started to vanish along with the strike. The screaming faded and the Hollow was finally gone.

"Finally…" Ichigo muttered, swinging Zangetsu over his shoulder. With a sigh, he jumped and used Flash Step, aiming to look for Rukia and Aveleria.

'_Guess no school for the three of us today…'_ He thought to himself.

* * *

Sword and claw clashed, the speed of both the blonde and the Hollow were impressive, but it seemed like the Hollow was the one losing. They disappeared again after striking and defending against their attacks. A second later, the Hollow appeared, clueless as to where Aveleria was, before the latter appeared behind it and swung her sword down, causing a long cut to appear on the beast's back before it plummeted down to the roof, landing with a thud and smoke.

As the smoke cleared, the Hollow was seen barely standing, its knees quivering from fatigue and head trying to lift and glare at the Soul Reaper. But it was too tired out and injured to even move. Aveleria felt a little unnecessary pity for it, and thought that she should end it. But before she could go down and strike the Hollow, a figure shot out and grabbed the beast, it yelping as it struggled against its captor.

Aveleria's eyes widened and saw a humanoid-like Hollow with grey skin and large, pincer-like hands holding down the now helpless Hollow. Within a second, it split the other in half, shocking the girl. Not only that, its mask with two large horns on either side of its head opened up and with its pincers, it ate both parts of the previous Hollow, shocking Aveleria even more.

As it was eating the bottom half of its morsel, the new Hollow's energy began to increase alarmingly. This troubled Aveleria to no end, and held her sword tightly as the new enemy glanced at her.

"Why did you eat that other Hollow?" she asked, even though it was unnecessary and not worth asking.

"It was weak," the Hollow answered, surprising the blonde before it continued. "Although he did consume a lot of souls before, so I didn't want to waste it. You noticed how my power increased, right?" It smirked as Aveleria looked at it with disgust.

"You disgust me," she said. "What kind of Hollow are you? Relying on others' powers like that so you can obtain it? That's unforgivable.

"It is survival," the Hollow answered. "We do this all the time, and you Soul Reapers have no right to question our ways. Now, let's say we get this over with?" It snapped its claw and Aveleria swept her sword to the side.

"Let's…" she answered. "But unlike the last one, I'll end this quickly to honor his death. Even the evil deserved to die in an honorable death, and you ruined that for him!"

"Ha!" the Hollow laughed. "You speak of honor when you were about to strike down a helpless enemy, you worthless piece of trash!"

"He didn't lose his will to fight," Aveleria said back, bringing her sword in front of her before disappearing. The Hollow was surprised and didn't have enough time to react as the blonde appeared in front of it. "And that is something you will _not_ have after I'm done with you…"

Before the Hollow could swing, Aveleria jumped and thrust her hand near the Hollow's face. Focusing a small amount of spiritual pressure to her palm, she pushed her hand to the enemy's face.

"_Kage!" _she exclaimed, the energy flowing out from her palm to the Hollow's eyes. It cried out and shook Aveleria away, causing her to flip backwards and land safely in the air again. The Hollow glared at her and growled. It was about to move when the corner of its vision started to turn black. It started to panic as its entire vision disappeared, eliciting a smirk to form on Aveleria's lips.

"What happened… to my eyes…?" The Hollow yelled. "Damn you, bitch! What have you done?!" Aveleria scoffed lightly at the insult before using Flash Step to appear in front of the Hollow.

"What I did to you just now is a technique called, _Kage_," Aveleria explained, disappearing as the Hollow heard her voice and tried to attack her and reappearing to its right. "It's a Kido I developed myself at times like these…" She flashed again and reappeared to its left.

"It'll rob you of your sight until I say otherwise," she giggled, noticing the anger building up in the Hollow. "It'll also cause you to get hazy and dizzy, so I'd stay calm if I were you."

"Damn you!" the Hollow sneered. "Get lost!" It opened its pincer and started to charge red spiritual energy. Aveleria's eyes widened a bit before using Flash Step to escape release of the Cero. Once it fired, the wide ranged shocked the girl for a moment. Then, noticing that it tired the Hollow out quite quickly, it must mean that her spell was working already. She decided that it was finally time to end it.

"You know," Aveleria called to the Hollow, who turned and looked around furiously, the confusion sinking in as it tried to locate her by sound. "You're easy prey when you stand around like that." This must have angered the Hollow because it opened its pincer again to fire a Cero randomly in the air.

"_Goodbye, Hollow…"_ she muttered. She started to rush down on the Hollow, spinning as she did so. Spiritual pressure started to gather on her sword as she kept on spinning. As she was a few meters from her enemy, she smirked to herself.

"_Ken Hyoji: Kyufurasshu!" _she uttered as she released her sword, cutting vertically and horizontally at the Hollow with the spiritual pressure she had gathered. In the Hollow's eyes, it seemed like two bright flashes of light, and before it could react, the darkness and haze disappeared. It started to laugh as it turned to see Aveleria kneeling, her back facing it.

"Now you-!" The Hollow was about to speak when a cut suddenly appeared on its face. Another second passed, and it cried out in pain before it split into four and dissipated in dark smoke. Aveleria spun her sword before sheathing it, smiling to herself as she stood up.

"It's finally over…" she muttered to herself. But when she took a step forward, she was shocked by seeing a Garganta opening in the air above her, and inside, it revealed to be a Menos Grande.

"W-what the…?" she muttered to herself. The howls of the Menos bellowed throughout the city, warning anyone else who is spiritually aware of its presence.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter finished! Thank you for those who viewed my story and put them on their "Favorites" and "Alerts"! I appreciate it a lot! So here is a battle scene for you guys~! :D**

**Ja Ne~**


	4. Hollows and Arrancar

_Aveleria: Previously..._

_Rukia: Hollows began to run rampant in Karakura town..._

_Ichigo: But lucky for us, they were a bunch of weaklings!_

_Aveleria: Suddenly, le wild Menos Grande appears! *makes fake explosion sounds*_

_Ichigo: Weaker… *smirks*_

_Aveleria: Not if there's more than one…_

_Ichigo: What?_

_Rukia: Shut up! It's starting…_

* * *

**Mine**

**Chapter 4:**

**Hollows and Arrancar**

Aveleria stood in shock from her spot, deathly afraid to move. What she assumed was just one Menos Grande, more appeared from behind it. There were probably three or four in number. But what's worse, it seemed that they were not finished yet. The howls of the Gillian-class Hollows could be heard through the entire city, alerting those who had even the slightest spiritual pressure. This included some of their classmates that she felt a little while ago.

"What should I do...?" she asked herself as she squinted, focusing on the monsters that just appeared. She didn't want to use _it_ here because it was too bothersome. But if things continue to worsen like this, she would have no choice. She unsheathed the top part of her sword, but stopped halfway when her thoughts caught up with her again.

_'No…'_ she thought. _'I can do this. Just without…_that…_'_ She re-sheathed her sword and faced the giant monsters that just closed the Garganta. There were six, for as far as she could count, and above them, was a small dot that seemed to be another Hollow. It had one of its clawed hands covering its eyes from the glaring heat of the sun.

"Damn," it sighed. "The Human World looks much too colorful… It should just be the color red…" It smirked, exposing its large, pointed fangs. "The color of _blood…_"

Aveleria looked closer at the Hollow on top of the Menos, she could feel the superior spiritual pressure it had amongst the ones from the lower classes. She glared intently, trying to take its form from a distance. But since she couldn't see it, she jumped up and faced the pack of Hollows, risking getting attention from the group. Unfortunately, the Hollow noticed her almost immediately. It looked at her and grinned menacingly.

"Well, well, well…" it said. "It looks like we have our first victim…" It raised its other claw, pointing towards the girl, who twitched her eye when she figured what it was about to do. She needed to find out what was happening. She needed to find out why they were suddenly sending high-level Hollows out just recently after she arrived.

"Gillian," the Hollow commanded. "Fire a Cero at that Soul Reaper!" At that, the Menos focused on their target and started to charge red spiritual pressure. Moments later, the Gillian-class Hollows fired their Cero simultaneously at the blonde. The red energy came rushing towards her from different angles, and the Hollow thought she couldn't escape. Just before it hit her, Aveleria pulled her sword out, holding it lazily with her right hand. The Hollow laughed maniacally when the Cero hit its target, filling the area with smoke.

"That was easy!" the Hollow exclaimed. "If Soul Reapers were that easy to kill, then _he'll_be very pleased…" It continued to laugh, looking at the smoked area. It was shocked however, when it felt a sudden spike of spiritual pressure from the area, and when it looked more closely, the smoke was swirling around a certain part, where the blonde used to stand. It got shocked even more when it saw that the Soul Reaper that it thought was finished was standing there, whirling her sword with her hand that produced a pinkish-golden glow. Aveleria stood there proudly with a smile on her face.

"I'm sorry," she said. "But _who_ were so easy to kill…?" She gripped the sword hand tightly to stop it from spinning, the glow fading immediately after she stopped it. She smirked when she saw the shocked look on the Hollow's face. The Hollow, even from afar, saw her smirk and gritted its fangs.

"But how…?" it asked. "You were supposed to be dead!" Aveleria pouted like she was arguing with someone she was close to. It made the Hollow think that she was overconfident, and it didn't like that one bit.

"You can't kill me off so easily…" she answered. "Want me to prove it?" she asked, holding her sword out. "Fire at me again… I dare you…" The Hollow became infuriated by the taunt and pointed at her once again.

"Cero…!" It exclaimed, causing the Gillian to howl before charging for another attack. Aveleria observed the aggravated expression of the Hollow, causing her to giggle.

"I have to be honest with you," she said to the Hollow. "If you're getting angry because you couldn't kill someone as pathetic as me, you should see my mentor and Lieutenant!"

"Shut up!" the Hollow howled, and the Gillian finally finished charging, firing the red Cero towards the girl once again. Her smile turned into a flat line on her lips, and her eyes to become half-lidded. She began to rotate her sword again, the pinkish-golden aura returning to it once again. She saw that the Cero was zoning in on her fast, so she sped up the rotation of her sword.

_"Ken Hyoji: __Buririantosākuru__!" _she exclaimed, and the sudden spike of her spiritual pressure could be felt. The Cero that was about to hit her was blocked by her spinning sword and it got the Hollow to drop its jaw in astonishment.

"H-how…?" it asked again. Once the light smoke cleared, Aveleria brushed her sword to the side and pointed it towards the Hollow.

_"__Buririantosākuru..._It's a technique of mine that's saved me many times…" Aveleria began. "By focusing my spiritual pressure on every part of the blade of my zanpakuto, I can instantly harden it that's suited to my needs. It can block any projectile thrown at me…" While the enemy was in a daze, Aveleria used her Flash Step to maneuver her way to the Hollow, surprising it from behind.

"The only drawback of that technique is that since I need all my energy for defense, I'm completely defenseless on every other side…" she muttered. "But that won't change the fact that you can't beat me!" she swung her sword at the surprised Hollow, but she herself was shocked when it didn't break the Hollow's flesh. It smirked as it took in Aveleria's surprised expression. The latter glared at it before jumping backwards.

"Why's your skin so hard…?" she asked. "I've only been on a few missions, but I'm pretty sure that your skin isn't that natural…" She glared intently at the Hollow, who was just amused that she looked so surprised before. She knew that there was something off about this Hollow, just judging from its spiritual pressure alone. She also knew that a normal Hollow's skin wasn't that hard. She had fought two earlier before this one, and they weren't as tough as this one, not nearly as tough.

"Is it…?" the Hollow asked. "I guess that proves you aren't experienced in fighting Adjhucas-class Hollows, huh?" At that, the girl's look changed from shock to morbid, causing the Hollow to laugh out loud.

"Why so surprised…?" The Hollow asked sarcastically, pointing another finger at her, silently ordering the Gillian to attack her again. "Where's that arrogance I saw earlier, huh?!" The Gillian's Cero fired without warning, causing the girl to snap out of her thoughts and barely dodged the attack. The Adjhucas laughed as it kept ordering the Gillian to send more Cero towards the blonde, not giving her enough time to gather energy for another shield.

She jumped up, narrowly escaping one of the Menos's attacks. She looked at the Hollows, and found that the distance was enough to focus on another technique. Rotating her sword once more, she managed to gather enough spiritual pressure on her blade before she was pushed back by the consecutive Cero being fired at her.

_'It's not enough…'_ she thought to herself as she felt herself being pushed back still. The spiritual pressure she'd put on her sword wasn't enough to completely block off all of the attacks, and she was being pushed back more and more. The Hollow smirked, it was waiting for this. In a blink of an eye, it disappeared from view. Aveleria was too busy trying to maintain her energy in blocking the continuous array of Cero that she didn't notice that the Adjhucas was closing in on her.

The Menos suddenly ceased fire, confusing Aveleria as she looked at the Hollows. She didn't see the Adjhucas, which greatly worried her. She focused on her surroundings, her sword still spinning in case the Menos pull a surprise attack on her. She didn't see that the Adjhucas was behind her, and only noticed when a gust of wind blew by, causing her hair to touch the Hollow behind her. She whirled her sword as she faced backwards, but she was too late in trying to stop it from attacking. The Hollow used its claw to deflect Aveleria's sword and knock her off balance, then used its other hand to smack her, sending her plummeting to the ground and landing with a loud crash and smoke. When the smoke cleared once more, there was a large hole on the ground, and the blonde was lying there, barely even moving anymore. The Hollow couldn't help but laugh at her pitiful state.

"You're so weak!" it mocked. "Barely moving after just one attack? Worthless…" It disappeared and reappeared just outside the hole, looking down on the Soul Reaper before it. It raised its arm, bending his hand and pointing at her again.

"Too bad," it said. "You're pretty enough that my _master_ might have turned you to one of his personal bitches… But you're arrogance costs your life! Gillian, Cero!" The Menos focused their fire once again on the hole, firing a large, combined attack of their Cero.

Aveleria couldn't move. Her spiritual pressure was greatly drained from fighting earlier and using different techniques and even maintaining them. It had caused a bad effect on her. She wasn't good at keeping her spiritual pressure in check, especially when under pressure like that. She was helpless now, and she could only watch in horror as the Cero of the Gillians fired and combined into a giant ball of red energy. The Hollow was laughing at her, at both her physical weakness and stupidity. If she had only waited for Ichigo or Rukia, she would still be standing behind them. They would have driven them off. Instead, she was the receiving end. She would die here before anyone could reach her.

"Good bye_,_ Soul Reaper…" the Hollow smirked. The Cero was closing in on her, and it wouldn't be long she gets vaporized by the red ball of energy. The blonde glared at the Adjhucas one last time, before closing her eyes and waiting for the impact.

The Hollow laughed maniacally once the Cero hit the ground and created a large cloud of smoke in front of it. It was sure that it was a direct hit, and that the woman was dead. But when the smoke was starting to clear, its eyes widened in pure shock. A Soul Reaper with bright orange hair stood in front of its victim, holding a giant sword that must've deflected the attack. His hazel-brown eyes were filled with determination that promised vengeance for his student.

Aveleria was confused. The Cero had hit, she felt the ground shake from it. But she wasn't dead. Wanting to satisfy her curiosity, she peeked an eye out, only to see a figure standing in front of her. She struggled to raise her head enough to see who it was, and she was filled with relief when she saw the familiar orange hair of her mentor.

"K-Kurosaki…sensei…" she muttered. The orange-haired teen didn't look at her, but nodded once to let her know he heard.

"Yeah," he said. "Sorry we're late." He smirked and pointed his sword at the Hollow. "Now, let us take care of this one…"

_'Us…?'_ the blonde repeated in her head. She was sure he was talking about her Lieutenant, but she wasn't there, or so she thought. But the following spike of spirit energy caused her to cease her thinking.

_"Some no Mai, Tsukishiro!" _the petite raven-hair's voice echoed. The Adjhucas realized the sudden up in spirit energy and dodged quickly as Rukia appeared.

"Damn it…" Rukia muttered as she leapt back to Ichigo's side. "It's fast…"

"Yeah," Ichigo said as he swung Zangetsu on his shoulder. "But we're faster…"

In a flash, the substitute Soul Reaper disappeared and reappeared in front of the surprised Adjhucas, a smirk evident on his face. With an upward swing, he managed to slash the Hollow in its left arm, causing it to scream in pain before kicking him back down. Ichigo quickly regained his footing and landed safely on the ground, frowning as the Adjhucas tries to run away.

"Don't think you can run away from me, bastard!" Ichigo shouted as he jumped towards the speeding creature. He held Zangetsu down as he gathered enough energy to obliterate the Adjhucas in one blow.

_"Getsuga Tensho!"_ The blast followed his upward swing, and it was headed for the Adjhucas. Unfortunately, the Hollow was still fast enough to avoid certain death, and the attack missed him completely. Instead, two Gillians suffered Ichigo's attack and vanished. The others howled at the loss and cowered when Ichigo was charging for another attack. Overcome with fear, the Gillian opened a Garganta on their accord and started to flee back to Hueco Mundo, the land of Hollows.

"H-Hey!" the Adjhucas exclaimed. "What the hell do you think you're doing? I didn't order a retreat!" It was panicking at the sight of its subordinates disobeying it, and even more so when Ichigo was closing in on it.

"D-damn you Soul Reaper!" it cursed as it opened a Garganta. "I swear I'll make your lives a living hell! And once my _master_ takes rule, you will all die!" By that time, Ichigo had already reached the Adjhucas and was about to strike, but the Garganta closed on him, making him curse before diving back down to where Rukia and Aveleria were.

* * *

Rukia tended to her subordinate with some low-level healing Kido. Her injuries were only minor, but her spiritual pressure had greatly decreased. She must've fought all-out if she was this tired. Though she is just a newbie, Rukia wouldn't have expected her to take on a herd of Gillians led by a strong Adjhucas.

"What were you thinking…?" she said to the blonde. "You could've died if we didn't get here in time…"

Weakly, Aveleria coughed a little and nodded her head. She could barely move now, but her bodily functions were doing fine.

"I wanted to at least drive them away…" she said, sitting up a little. "It would've been nice to impress Kurosaki-sensei by landing a hit on one of those Menos…"

"But that doesn't mean you should risk your life for that!" Rukia exclaimed. The blonde blinked at the raven-haired Lieutenant for a moment, before sighing and closing her eyes.

"Always live to what your heart desires," Aveleria said. "I followed that one rule of mine, and I never regretted any of my decisions. It's nice to live without regrets…"

"It'd be nicer to actually _survive_…" Ichigo muttered as he approached the two. "You okay?"

"Yes," the blonde answered. "I'll be fine. Just used a lot of energy the last fight, so I guess I can't train today. I'm very sorry…"

"No," Ichigo said, shaking his head. "You should just rest. We can pick up our training tomorrow, okay?"

"As you wish," Aveleria answered. They stayed there for a couple more minutes, Ichigo staring out into open space while Aveleria was treated by Rukia. Once they were done, the raven-haired woman ordered her subordinate to return to her home, leaving her faux body to attend classes for her. Once the blonde was safely away from them, Rukia had turned from concerned to serious.

"What did you find out…?" Rukia asked, her back facing Ichigo's own. They had both been facing away from each other, gathering every bit of information they could from their memories.

"Nothin' much…" Ichigo muttered. "The Adjhucas said something about a _master_, but it never mentioned a name."

"So this was planned…" Rukia concluded. "This is a little troublesome." She faced the orangette, who had faced sideways from his original direction as he spared a glance at Rukia.

"What should we do?" he asked her. "They're going to attack again, aren't they?" Rukia cupped her chin as she gazed at the ground, thinking of every possible solution that rushed through her head. A few moments later, she sighed in distress and looked at Ichigo again.

"I'm going to have to report back to Soul Society," she said. "They may figure out why the Hollows are suddenly planning their attacks instead of random outbursts. It wouldn't hurt to do a little background check on Las Noches as well to see who this _master_ they speak of is."

"Okay," Ichigo said while nodding. "I'll go inform hat-and-clogs about this. Maybe he knows something, too." With a single nod, the two Soul Reapers split up, going to different directions to investigate about this rather odd occurrence.

* * *

Aveleria rested her head on her soft pillow as she let the comfy sofa take her off to dreamland. It had been a few hours since Aveleria reached her apartment, now in Human form and taking in the peace and quiet that was happening here and now.

_'It's so quiet…'_ she thought to herself. She snuggled deeper to the pillow's embrace, and the gentle, fluffy pillows began to drop her to sleep. But, as soon as she felt slumber a few mere seconds away, her eyes darted open and sat up abruptly, causing the pillow to be thrown across the living room. The temperature of the room dropped immensely, and she started to feel the hair on the back of her neck and on her arms standing up stiff as a stick.

What she saw deep in her subconscious scared her out of sleep. A few tense moments of silence passed, and Aveleria just stared blankly at the walls, frames, and shelves. Another moment passed, and she finally let herself relax with an awkward chuckle.

"T-that's right…" she said to herself. "I'm not used to quiet… Even with my family…" She started to chuckle to herself again, until it became full-blown laughter. She laughed so hard, she stumbled backwards back down to the sofa. But her laughter was just hiding her fear, and she's doing one hell of a job hiding it. As her laughter downed a bit, turning to what seemed to be gasps for air, the room was suddenly tense again. And out of the blue, the blonde started to sob, her body shaking as she cried with her pain-filled chest.

_That_ place. She just couldn't get her head to get out of that place. All she needed to do was clear her thoughts from there, but it kept coming back. No matter how much she tried to hide it, it just kept coming back.

"D-darn it…" she sobbed quietly as she curled herself into a ball, wiping some of her tears and not minding the slight stings that she felt when her wounds compress. It took her mind off that so it should be fine. She concentrated, telling herself only happy memories with her family, her friends from the Academy, Rukia and Ichigo training her. All of it, she was sure it would take her mind off things.

But it didn't. It showed again, her being chained up, only wearing a ragged white dress. She could hear the pumping of the machines and the turning of the gears, noises that she was far too familiar with. Each rusted churning noise made her want to throw up, possibly from what she knew they were using the machines for. It didn't help that she had a photographic memory; everything was just as fresh in her mind as seeing Ichigo or Rukia's faces for the first time.

The experience, the sheer terror that she felt from just getting a glance at those memories, she wanted to cry all over again.

She shook her head, shakily sitting up. One of her hands covering her eyes, she looked around to calm herself down.

_'I'm not in there…'_ she repeated in her mind. _'I'm not trapped there anymore… It's just a memory…'_ Slowly, she rubbed her eyes clean from any tears, getting off the couch and going to the kitchen sink. She washed her face with the cool water to let herself calm down some more. Afterwards, she grabbed a paper towel from the counter and wiped her face dry.

"I need a walk…" she told herself. Walking lazily back to the living room, she took the pillow and placed it back on the sofa. Rubbing the wound she had on her arm, she sighed and went to her room. That walk would have to wait later, because right now she needed to rest and relax, even if it was for a day.

When she got to her room, she turned a small, rectangular radio and tuned in to a music channel. When she found one that was calming or soothing, she changed to her pyjamas and curled up on her bed. Leaving the radio on wouldn't be so bad, especially after going through such a horrible walk down memory lane.

* * *

The Adjhucas Hollow race walked across the large, white halls of Las Noches, previously owned by the notorious Soul Reaper with a god complex. The wound on its arm wasn't bleeding too heavily anymore, but it still hurt. Reporting to its master before attending to its needs would be its first and foremost priority right now.

Stopping at the large, white doors, he used his good hand to knock twice, before it automatically opened to reveal the large throne room. Inside, the whole place was completely white, save for the red vintage carpet that ran from the door up to the throne, which was at least ten feet high.

"M-master," it stuttered while walking and lightly limping from the loss of blood. "I-I've…"

"Shut the fuck up…" a masculine voice muttered, his voice echoing through the whole room and making the Adjhucas shiver in fear. At the throne, a tall, muscular man with lightly tanned skin sat, one hand cupping his face and his elbow resting on the throne as he glared at the lower-class Hollow.

"You left without permission…" he said, his voice threatening and his aura smelled of death. The lowly creature could do nothing but cringe as the man with spiky blue hair moved from his seat. It was expecting some sort of punishment, but not the wicked and insane laughter that reverberated from its master's chest.

"…And that was a fun show!" he exclaimed. "I've been so damn bored in this place already that even a little rebellion would get me to laugh!" He grinned menacingly, showing off his longer and sharper than normal canines, and making the green markings under his blue eyes even more prominent.

"I'd be careful if I were you," said a smooth voice from behind the Adjhucas. The blue-haired man stopped his chuckling and grinned at the newcomer with pink hair.

"Why if it isn't Szayel?" he said. "What freakin' experiment did you come up with this time?" The man known as Szayel tucked a strand of his shoulder-length pink hair and walked inside with arms crossed. He gave a look to the Adjhucas, silently suggesting it should leave before their master decides to kill it. It leaves without hesitation, rushing out and closing the doors behind him. Then, Szayel looked back up to the grinning maniac that was supposedly their King.

"Stop grinning like that, Grimmjow," Szayel sang. "You look like a panther ready to hunt its meal…"

"Can't help it," Grimmjow said. "You coming up here mean there's good news, right?"

"Right," Szayel said, smiling as well. "Harribel is doing a fine job at recovering. She should be fine in about a week." At this, Grimmjow's grin got wider, if possible.

"Means I can get out of this shit hole…" he muttered with slight excitement. "Tell her to hurry the fuck up if she doesn't want me to blow this place up!"

"You can't order me around," the pink-haired former Espada huffed. "The only reason you're King is because Harribel is recovering. Once she does, she'll take over again and you…"

"…Will be out of this shit hole…" the blue-haired former number six finished. "It's just as I said."

"Yes, yes…" Szayel waved his hand in disinterest. "Oh, and by the way, you're little rebel there found something interesting…"

"Oh?" Grimmjow asked, leaning down and resting his elbows on his legs as he smirked. Szayel nodded, and a smirk found its way to his face.

"Yes," he said. "Apparently, Kurosaki Ichigo is back in action…" At this, Grimmjow's smirk was wiped clean off his face. He glared hard at Szayel, who ignored it and continued his report.

"He's also mentoring a young Soul Reaper… One that would be, and I quote, 'pretty enough that my master might have turned you to one of his personal bitches'."

"Never imagined the kid to be the mentoring type," Grimmjow shrugged. "So what the hell was that Hollow talking about me taking a bitch for free?"

"I'll bring up the video later," Szayel answered. "I need to check back with Harribel. Grimmjow, just be sure to keep this place intact for the next week, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah…" he said, grinning again. "And if that girl's as bitchy as that Hollow said…"

"Yeah, yeah…" Szayel said this time. "I'll work on that." With that, Szayel left the throne room, leaving Grimmjow with curiosity and an animalistic grin on his face.

* * *

**A/N: Hello there again~! ^_^ I'm so sorry I haven't updated for a long while. Busy busy~! XD Anyway, as for the questions that I know will be bound to rise in you, Grimmjow will NOT meet Aveleria for a long while. And about Aveleria, yeah, she has a photographic memory. And as for the strange reason she couldn't sleep in silence… Well, let's leave it at that… X)**

**Anyway, thanks for reading this guys~! R&R please! And support my other fiction like, "After School Fun", "Me and Fairy Tail," and many more~!**

**Ja Ne~**


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